Customer Reviews

New Year's Concert in Vienna 1992 ~ Kleiber

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As I write (1999), this 1992 performance has become the stuff of legend, and with good reason. Carlos Kleiber, perhaps the premier conductor of his generation, achieved a stupendous feat in grafting his extraordinary musical intelligence to pure, unabashed glee to create what may be the finest single Strauss performance ever. There isn't a single note which doesn't communicate verve, wit, and joy, nor is there a better argument for the case that Johann Strauss, while not a profound composer, was, in his idiom, a GREAT one. (It's interesting to note that the strength of his abilities was perhaps the only thing upon which Wagner and Brahms agreed.)

The Vienna Philharmonic has never sounded better, and the occasion - the 1992 New Year's concert - brings the ultimate Strauss audience to the proceedings as a participant. In short, this is a stupendous recording, and it should serve as a cornerstone of any music lover's collection.

I've heard that when Carlos Kleiber rehearses an orchestra, they get rehearsed thoroughly. Such is the case concerning this timeless recording of Strauss music. The Gypsy Baron Overture is given the best performance I have ever heard, live or on recordings. The opening string passage couldn't have been played any better, even by gypsys themselves. The finesse and clarity that the Vienna musicians play with is remarkable. And if one can unglue themselves enough from listening to the Gypsy Baron more than once, the Thunder and Lightening Polka can easily takes its place. Who else has attempted this polka at such a break-neck speed but has also kept the spirit of the music just as intense? Carlos Kleiber wins here!

Carlos Kleiber once said that he wanted to be "the next great Strauss conductor after Herbert von Karajan." He's achieved it. This is another amazing performance. The energy is his interpretations is palpable. I'm a huge Strauss fan, and a huge von Karajan fan, but this just might be one of those rare cases of the pupil outdoing the master.

It's been 15 years since Carlos Kleiber led this New Year's concert, and as you'd expect from a great conductor, he applies his unique stamp. Not a single bar sounds routine; orchestral textures are precise and perfectly balanced; a sense of aliveness prevails throughout. The only listeners who might be disappointed are traditionalists, because Kleiber isn't a gemutlich conductor -- this is the most serious Strauss recording I own in its tone. The program is full of familiar items more than rarities (in part because Sony doesn't give us the whole program, which can be had, I believe, only on the DVD). I'm grateful that Kleiber chose two substantial overtures, Nicolai's Merry Wives of Windsor and Johann Strauss's Gypsy Baron. Both are performed superbly, if slightly subdued in manner. But that adjective applies to quite a few numbers. Even so, this is wonderful musicmaking. Sony's sonics are a bit wiry, but not as edgy as their other Strauss outing with Kleiber from 1989. That year Kleiber's conducting was fiercer and less genial than here.

This is a magnificent recording from start to finish. The conducting and playing is superb. There is a wonderfully festive atmosphere here, and as a live recording the sound engineering is superb. I wholeheartedly recommend this recording if you like the music of Strauss and/or the work of the late, great Carlos Kleiber.